THE FAMILY HISTORY

MARRES / MARES

VOLGRAAF

The Dutch family Marres has three family branches, the best known is called Marres, a second Mares and a third Volgraaf. The family history is described here from the first historical mention in the year 1388. The widow of the ancestor then pays the annual tribute at the Hospice of Tongeren for land ownership in Zussen near Maastricht.

In 1403 Johan Marres acquires the former manor of the knights of Boxberg in Zussen. The Boxberch goes around 1430 to son Johan Mees. In the neigh­boring village Heukelom in the Vroenhof county of Maastricht the family has two mansions that remain in the family until the 17th century.

After the war of Liege 1407-1408 Johan Marres deposits the city of Maas­tricht an estimate of war damage as fighter for the city and citizen of the city.

Business activities of the family from the Middle Ages on are discussed in Textile Industry and Textile Merchants. They are deans of guilds. Paul Marres is governor of the guild in 1416, 1421 and 1423. Johan Marres in 1457. In the year 1467 he becomes captain of the Maastricht civic guard.

A charter issued in 1523 by De Vroenhof, a Maastricht court, guaranteed tariff exemption for three Marres brothers, Matthijs, Jan and Reyner, for their business activities in Brabant. Reyner is the most recent common ancestor of both the Marres and the Mares branch. Matthijs is the ancestor of the Volgraaf family.

Reyner has two sons, Matthijs and Reyner. From Matthijs two sons settle at the end of the sixteenth century in Maastricht. They started to spell their name consistent with a double rr, and became the heads of the family line Marres. Matthijs buys in 1591 at the Brussels Street a house named De Valck. This house remains in the family until 1722.

Th other son, Reyner junior settles in Val-Meer (now Belgium), and from him descends the Mares line. Present members of this line settled later in the village Wolder near Maastricht.

Beginning in 1641, members of the Marres line were continually active in the Maastricht Brewer's Guild, with in total fourteen breweries until 1959 when the last brewery ceased to exist. The re-opening of a brewery in Dordrecht in 2008, for educational reasons, is pictured.

During the 19th century, business activities expanded into other industries, such as the saltworks and later the brickyard.

Beginning in the 17th century, several members of the family were active in the Roman Catholic Church as priest, dean, monk, prior and prioress of a monastery, moral theologian, seminary professor and Papal chamberlain. By the end of the last century, most of the members of the family no longer participated in church life.

There have always been functions in the public government as alderman, mayor, city and county councillor, bayliff; and judges of lower and higher courts; and diplomatic functions as envoy or ambassador.

Educational activities in secondary and higher education are described, such as director of a city college, principal of a high school, professors on the faculties of medical and law schools, and seminaries.

Sports activities and cultural institutions are treated.

The Marres genealogy, descriptions of the Mares and Volgraaf branches, and genealogies of related family lines can be found with pictures of seals and coats of arms.

The quarters of the Marres-Pekelharing couple legitimately goes back, on both sides, to Saint Arnold, the patron saint of brewers. In addition, there are several digressions regarding interesting facts about directly related families.

Attention is given to persons who worked in their factories.

There are descriptions of the sometimes very special archeological discoveries from Roman times, uncovered during restoration of their houses in the historical section of Maastricht, and from prehistoric times in their quarry Belvédère in Caberg.

Genetic-genealogically, the family belongs to the Y-DNA clade G-FGC6629 that originated in the Middle Ages around the year 700. Then two branches separated. One from which the Walloon family Nolet originated and one from which the Flemish family Slootmaekers came.